Dream Theater Clinic at DB Music, Menomenee Falls

By Traci Beland

Dream Theater’s special appearance at DB Music in Menomonee Falls drew a crowd of 40 to 50 people. The informal setting allowed fans a unique opportunity to ask questions of the band. Drummer Mike Portnoy set the tone for the evening when he said, “This looks like an AA meeting.”

Most of the crowd appeared to be musicians, and the majority of the questions asked revolved around the band’s influences, training, and songwriting techniques. Portnoy said Rush was the one common bond that brought the band together. He cited Yes, Frank Zappa, Black Sabbath, the Dregs, Metallica, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden as other influences. Although Dream Theater’s music does contain shades of their influences; their music is highly unique and quite progressive.

Dream Theater’s songs are extremely complex and very long; ‘Learning to Live’ clocks in at over twelve minutes. Guitarist John Petrucci said that writing such complex songs takes a great deal of time. He explained that ‘Metropolis Part I’ took over a month to write. “We’d rehearse about four nights a week, four hours at a time,” said Petrucci. Expect to see ‘Metropolis Part II’ on the next album and expect it to be the last in the series. “We don’t want to have eight or nine parts to this thing,” Petrucci emphasized.

The length of the songs necessitates that they be edited for radio airplay. One of the hardest things to deal with in the music business is the loss of creative control,” said Portnoy. “The video for ‘Pull Me Under’ was cut by three minutes, and the radio version was cut by two.”

Each band member had special musical training. Bassist John Myung, guitarist John Petrucci, and drummer Mike Portnoy studied at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, while keyboardist Kevin Moore studied at the Fredonia School of Music. Lead singer James LaBrie had four years of formal opera training. “A lot of the range was there, but my opera teacher taught me how to mask,” a technique that uses the bones in the face so the throat isn’t strained. “It taught me how to be strong,” said LaBrie.

LaBrie is the newest addition to Dream Theater’s lineup. The material on Images and Words was written before he joined the band. Dream Theater’s first release, When Dream and Day Unite, is currently out of print, but is available in Japan. The band hopes the release will be reissued later this year. Portnoy said the band also plans to record some of the first album live.

One of the evening’s highlights was some impromptu guitar playing from Petrucci. A young child was especially impressed by Petrucci’s quick finger work, so the guitarist asked the toddler’s opinion of his playing after each riff.

Dream Theater is planning to tour in support of a major national act, but none of them were willing to disclose any details about the tour. The band has been on the road since last September, yet they seem excited and really appear to enjoy touring. The band members are friendly and seem to truly appreciate and respect their fans. Dream Theater refreshingly combines their musical expertise with a down to earth attitude.